Operation could not be completed. The RPC server is unavailable.

The cause can be a missing or corrupted spoolss.dll or spoolss.exe. Make sure the RPC service is started. If the error is consistent and it continues through a reboot, re-apply the service pack.

Bay Wolf,

Thanks so much for the suggestions.  I tried starting the Remote services with no success.  Then I went to my SP1 I386 file and copied the spoolss.dll file to the dll cache (after deleting the one that was already there).  There was no spoolss.exe file in the SP 1 files to replace the spoolss.exe in the dll cache.  However with the one substitute, there was the same error.  If the spoolss.exe is not in SP1, do you think it would be on my XP installation CD?  Would copying it and substituting it for the spoolss.exe already in my dll cache be a viable alternative?

Thanks so much for your help.

Jane

Hi,

I got it installed.  It turned out that the Print Spool, which was on a manual setting, was not started.   So I changed it to automatic, so that it would be started at the time of installation and reboot when the installation was finishing and the error occurred.

I checked my list of the default settings for services, and it was set to automatic at the beginning, probably at the time I first installed the printer.  After that, my changing the status to manual worked o.k. for the operation of the device.

Thanks again for the help. 

The HP folders on the start menu are listed as #5 for each one.  I wonder if I have 5 copies of the same thing, even though I uninstall the software each time before reinstalling.    Well I'm not going to revisit any printer issue for a long time.  Good enough is good enough!

Jane

What was the procedure you used to change your spool settings? I've been trying to sort out my problem for a week.(when I had time),